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Montreux pays tribute to Gainsbourg
Jane Birkin and Co. Conquer Switzerland
Montreux
13/07/2000 -
This year's Montreux Jazz Festival got off to an unpromising start, with looming grey skies and rain hanging over Lake Leman and clouds of mist drifting across the Alps. Montreux was not about to succumb to the weather, however. The Swiss town has staged its internationally renowned jazz festival since the summer of '67 and organisers were not going to let a few rainclouds spoil this year's fun. The crème de la crème of the jazz world have all appeared at Montreux but in recent years the festival has opened up to other forms of music, celebrating the sounds of world, reggae, rock, electronica and French chanson.
In 1996 the Montreux Festival teamed up with the French association Fonds d'Action Sacem and staged a special tribute to Charles Trenet, presided over by the legendary French chanson star himself. Following the success of the Trenet tribute, Montreux carried on in the same vein in 1997, paying its respects to Charles Aznavour. American jazz star George Duke, a regular performer at Montreux, was called in as musical arranger and conductor on both occasions. Renowned for his vibrant jazz fusion style, Duke has enjoyed an eclectic career working with everyone from Al Jarreau to Frank Zappa and Miles Davis and he proved to be the perfect choice when it came to orchestrating a meeting of jazz and chanson. Duke was on hand again at this year's festival when Montreux teamed up with the French Sacem once again and organised another special tribute, this time celebrating the work of legendary French singer/songwriter Serge Gainsbourg.
Gérard Davoust, director of Sacem, admits Duke needed little persuading to get involved with Montreux's Gainsbourg tribute. "George was thrilled by the challenge of reorchestrating Gainsbourg." Davoust recalls, "It was a real musical adventure! Being such a versatile artist himself, George was the obvious choice when it came to orchestrating new versions of Gainsbourg's songs. He'd already done such a great job with Trenet and Aznavour - and now we're actually thinking of doing something along the same lines with Brassens too!"
When it came to lining up a cast of singers to perform the Gainsbourg classics, the choice was equally obvious. Philippe Lerichomme, who worked as Gainsbourg's producer for seventeen years, joined forces with the singer/songwriter's muse, Jane Birkin, and the pair went on to draw up a star-studded cast. In actual fact, the line-up would fluctuate until the very last moment - Bashung, who had originally been billed as one of Montreux's headlining acts, was tied up with shooting a film, Sinclair was busy in the studio recording an album and Stomy Bugsy, who was in the midst of a tour in Cape Verde, had been rushed back to France with medical problems. Despite the absence of these three stars, Philippe Lerichomme and Jane Birkin managed to assemble an impressive musical line-up at Montreux and on Sunday July 9th music fans were treated to excellent performances from the likes of Arielle, Alain Chamfort, Jacques Higelin, Salif Keïta, M, Miossec, Carlos (leader of Swiss rap group Sens Unik) and German chanteuse Ute Lemper. 
On Sunday afternoon Jane Birkin assembled her troupe in the gigantic Stravinsky auditorium and the cast spent most of the afternoon rehearsing the evening's show. The air was heavy with emotion as singers ran through their tributes (although, for some strange reason, this emotion was sometimes lacking at the concert on Sunday evening). Many of the artists stayed on after their final soundcheck, watching other performers and applauding their sets - everyone apart from Salif Keïta that is, who spent most of the performance dosing in his seat! Meanwhile, other singers chose to relax in their own individual ways, Ute Lemper tucking into a sandwich while Alain Chamfort played with his young daughter and Higelin chattered away to all and sundry. Mathieu Chédid chose to sit on his own, watching the proceedings from the back of the auditorium and Jane Birkin sat quietly in a corner sketching everyone in a little black book.
Some of the eleven singers performing at the Montreux tribute had actually known Gainsbourg while he was alive. Alain Chamfort, for instance, had written two and a half albums - Rock'n'Roses, Poses, Amour année Zéro - with the notorious Homme à la tête de chou. But younger performers such as Arielle, Miossec and Carlos had never actually had the chance to meet him. "Serge would have been happy to see so many young faces performing here tonight," Jane Birkin remarked with a smile, "There are more young faces than old tonight - too bad for the over-50s!"
All the singers taking part in the tribute were united by their love and respect for Gainsbourg, however, every single one of them claiming him as their spiritual father. "Gainsbourg is a seminal figure in French music," Higelin declared, "I've listened to all his songs over and over and I love every single one of them! I've often caught myself humming a Gainsbourg tune in day-to-day life. For me there are other great figures like Charles Trenet, but it was Gainsbourg who really modernised the French language!"
German star Ute Lemper, who brought an international flavour to the Montreux tribute, admitted she had never sung any Gainsbourg before, but declared she was "extremely flattered and honoured to be performing at this tribute. Gainsbourg was such a cool, avant-garde figure!" Although Gainsbourg never made much impact in Germany, Lemper insists that the late French star is better known in New York where she has now made her home. In fact, Gainsbourg has been gaining credibility in the Anglo-Saxon world over the past few years. English singer Misty Oldland recorded a version of the Gainsbourg classic Je t'aime moi non plus (A Fair Affair) in 1993, Luscious Jackson's daughters have covered 69 année érotique and Mick Harvey (from Nick Cave's Bad Seeds) recorded an entire album of Gainsbourg songs in 1995. Gainsbourg has also made it into All-Time Favourite charts published in hip UK magazines such as Q and Mo'jo and the American magazine Newsweek recently included the French singer/songwriter in its list of the century's most influential people.
George Duke was thus already more than familiar with Gainsbourg's work and the American jazz star threw himself into the tribute project with great enthusiasm. "George's involvement in the project brought a real touch of joy and gaiety to things,", acknowledges Jane Birkin, "George treated Serge's music with such kindness and generosity." Working with an orchestra of six musicians, Duke reworked Gainsbourg's songs and spent several days with each of the performers rehearsing their set. Thanks to his sensitive interpretation, Gainsbourg's songs lost none of their magic at Montreux. 
With feverish excitement rippling backstage as well as in the crowd out front, Arielle was the first up on stage on Sunday night, launching the Montreux tribute with Ces petits rien. The auditorium, filled to bursting point, exploded with applause and Arielle - who says she loves Gainsbourg"because he loves women" - went on to bring the house down with Manon and Maxim's, "a song I've been singing since I was a kid!" " Dressed in a smart white suit, Alain Chamfort followed Arielle, delighting the crowd with his version of La ballade de Melody Nelson and La noyée, (one of Gainsbourg's lesser-known songs taken from the film soundtrack of Les voleurs de chevaux). Gainsbourg brought all his musical and poetic genius to bear in this tragic tale of a drowned girl floating down a river and Chamfort brought suitable drama to his performance at Montreux. Chamfort's rendition of Manureva was also superb, and he captured the cynicism of the classic En relisant ta lettre perfectly.
Ute Lemper brought a touch of Broadway to the evening, proving herself very much at ease in the company of the orchestra who switched from big band to piano bar at the drop of a baton. Lemper's sultry vocals burned through an excellent cover of Baby Lou but the highlight of the German star's set was an unforgettable performance of Ford Mustang The evening revolved around an eclectic mix of styles and Miossec made a stark contrast to Lemper as he stepped out on stage. The Breton-born singer drawled his way through Requiem pour un con with a cigarette dangling from his bottom lip, but his vocals were drowned by the orchestra on les Sucettes and as Miossec left the stage, he mumbled a touching "Sorry, Serge" under his breath.
Higelin proved to be one of the most popular performers of the evening, getting the crowd to sing along with Couleur Café and Elisa. Alternative French pop star M, triumphant after his victory at this year's "Victoires de la musique" awards, also went down well (particularly with the female half of the audience!) Swapping his famous red tailcoat for a black velvet suit, M mesmerised the crowd with an electrifying rendition of Nazi Rock, a highly sensual version of L'eau à la bouche and some amazing guitar-playing. Salif Keïta gave a somewhat quieter performance, covering just one song, Je suis venu te dire que je m'en vais which he had already included on his 1996 album Sosie. One of the highlights of Montreux's Gainsbourg tribute came courtesy of Carlos, leader of Swiss rap posse Sens Unik (who was the only Swiss star to appear on Sunday night). Called in to replace French rapper Stomy Bugsy, Carlos performed Stomy's chosen songs - Sex Shop and La poupée qui fait ("pipi et caca") - with aplomb. In fact, Carlos's innovative rap version of Gainsbourg's originals left listeners wondering whether the late great chanson star hadn't been writing rap all along!
But it was Jane Birkin who gave the most emotional performance of the evening. Her fragile vocals soared bravely above the orchestra and earned rapturous applause from the audience as she launched into Sous le soleil, Il est parti acheter des cigarettes ("depuis 7 heures et demi…"), Nicotine and Fuir le bonheur. "Tonight I feel Serge isn't far away,", Jane whispered, cupping her hands round the mike. And the crowd obviously felt his presence too, leaping to their feet and joining in as all eleven artists gathered on stage for a collective version of the Javanaise. Scooping up the mound of bouquets thrown on stage after the final encore, Jane ran to offer them to the musicians. As she slipped quietly away at the end of the show, Gainsbourg's muse whispered, "There are moments when you have to know how to fade into the background. I don't want to be seen as the patron of this evening or anything - Serge belongs to everyone now!"
Catherine Pouplain - Pédron
Translation : Julie Street
